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This is an illuminated and illustrated Safavid copy of the Būstān (The garden or The orchard), composed by Sa’dī (d. 691 AH
/ 1292 CE). It was written in black nasta’līq script in the ninth century AH / sixteenth CE in Iran. The codex opens with
a frontispiece with the title Kitāb-i būstān inscribed in an illuminated medallion (fol. 1a), followed by a double-page illustration
of a banquet scene in a landscape (fols. 1b-2a). Additionally, there are five paintings illustrating the text (fols. 25a,
55b, 58a, 93b, and 119b). The brown leather, blind-stamped binding decorated with a central oval and pendants is not contemporary
with the manuscript.

Date

9th century AH / 15th CE

Origin

Iran

Form

Book

Genre

Literary -- Poetry

Language:

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

Support material

Paper

Laid paper

Extent

Foliation: i+189+i

Collation

Catchwords: Written on versos

Dimensions

17.0 cm wide by 25.5 cm high

Written surface

8.0 cm wide by 14.0 cm high

Layout

Columns: 2

Ruled lines: 11

Framing lines in blue, black, and gold

Contents:

fols. 1a - 188a:

Title: Kitāb-i būstān

Author: Saʿdī

Incipit: بنام خداوندجان افرين...

Hand note: Written in black nastaʿlīq script with red for section headings

Label: This illuminated frontispiece is inscribed with the title Kitāb-i būstān in the polychrome and gold medallion (shamsah).

fol. 1b:

Title: Double-page illustrated frontispiece

Form: Frontispiece; illustration

Label: This is the right side of a double-page illustrated frontispiece depicting a banquet in a landscape.

fol. 2a:

Title: Double-page illustrated frontispiece

Form: Frontispiece; illustration

Label: This is the left side of a double-page illustrated frontispiece depicting a banquet in a landscape.

fol. 2b:

Title: Double-page illuminated incipit

Form: Incipit

Label: This is the right side of a double-page illuminated incipit introducing the text of the Būstān. Allāh al-Bāqī is inscribed
in the lower cartouche in a decorated New Abbasid (broken cursive) style.

fol. 3a:

Title: Double-page illuminated incipit

Form: Incipit

Label: This is the left side of a double-page illuminated incipit introducing the text of the Būstān. Allāh wa-lā siwāhu and al-Shukr
li-Llāh ta`ālá are inscribed in the cartouches in a decorated New Abbasid (broken cursive) style.

fol. 25a:

Title: Darius, the Persian king, meeting his herdsman while hunting

Form: Illustration

fol. 55b:

Title: An old man, who pulled out a thorn from the foot of an orphan, meeting his friend

Form: Illustration

fol. 58a:

Title: Banquet scene in a landscape

Form: Illustration

fol. 93b:

Title: A man advised by village elders to divorce his wife because of their constant quarreling

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode.
It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of
manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.